


There’s Three F’s in Fight or Flight

by Eve (Aoife), IShouldBeWriting



Category: Singularity North
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Relationship, F/F, Military Working Dog, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-04-27
Packaged: 2017-12-09 16:11:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Eve, https://archiveofourown.org/users/IShouldBeWriting/pseuds/IShouldBeWriting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Its tenuous, and fragile as hell, but maybe they’re finally both ready.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There’s Three F’s in Fight or Flight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shadowcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/gifts).



_”Hello again, it’s you and me_  
Kinda always like it used to be  
Sippin' wine, killing time  
Trying to solve life’s mysteries.  
How’s your life, it’s been a while  
God it’s good to see you smile  
I see you reaching for your keys  
Looking for a reason not to leave. 

_If you don’t know if you should stay_  
If you don’t say what’s on your mind  
Baby just, breathe  
there’s no where else tonight we should be-  
You wanna make a memory.” 

It had been a long and very unpleasant day. Smudged with ash and liberally splattered with mud, TEAR’s Valkyries returned from their shout. On duty at the gate post, Ian Nigels had taken one look at Fee’s face when Davis lowered the truck’s windows and waved them straight through with the bare minimum of security checks required by protocol. Shaking herself out of the haze of exhaustion, Fee nodded her thanks as the truck was put into gear again and headed down the ramp toward the service bay. 

Inside and under ground, harsh florescent lighting combined with the occasional yellow and blue tinged spurt of flame from behind a safety divider temporarily pulled into place across one corner of the room. As the team piled out of the truck, the brilliance of the flames diminished and McKenna’s welding mask covered head popped around the side of the divider. She took one look at them and grimaced before disappearing again. There was a sharp snap and pop as the gas tank which fueled McKenna’s acetylene torch rig was turned off.

“Looks like this was a bad one, eh?” She asked sympathetically as she stripped off her leather gloves and shoved them into an apron pocket.

Looking at her blearily, Fee could do nothing more than nod her answer. McKenna smiled soft encouragement in return.

“In which case I’ve something that ought to make you feel a bit better. If you go up to the hub, you might actually be in time to catch it for yourself.”

One eyebrow raised, Fee waited to see if she’d say more. McKenna’s smile grew a tiny bit wider and she made shooing motions with her hands as she slipped back around the artificial privacy offered by the safety divider.

Shaking her head, Fee looked over her team. They were all completely knackered but at the same time, jittery from the shout they’d been working with the police counter-terrorism squad. Thoughts finally began to filter into a semblance of order.

“Davis, Rachel, Lily, get cleaned up and go home. The reports are due on my desk by noon otherwise Hereford’s going to be breathing down my neck. Sorry that only gives you six hours. Its all we’ve got. If you need to, Davis, run Osiris home, and I’ll pull your report in last. Mace, why don’t you go give Major Sayer the rundown on what needs replenishing from our kits. I’ll meet you back at the office to debrief Will and write up the command summary.”

Without waiting, Fee began to trudge down the corridor, knowing her people would follow their orders.

“On it, captain,” came Lily’s belated reply. With thoughtful Davis and quiet Rachel for partners, she’d become the unofficial spokesperson for the team’s lower ranking members.

Leaning against the lift wall as it rose toward the hub, Fee almost fell asleep on her feet. It’d been a busy week on top of a busy month. Despite her thorough enjoyment of the post’s challenges, some days the combination of working at the ARC and still being on loan to the police was exhausting. It was on days like this that the demons inside her head rose, taunting her with failures and with old insecurities well concealed.

 _Pull it together, Fee. Another hour or two and you can go fall over,_ she told herself. _More like fall apart,_ the dark voices answered from deep inside her head.

The lift slid to a stop and the door rolled open, giving her reason to shake off the maudlin. Pulling herself up through force of will to the straight posture befitting of an officer, Fee walked into the hub. There stood her course-mate and oldest friend, William Bennett. To almost anyone else in the world his body language might read as casual, but Fee could see the tension. Seeing who he was talking with explained it all; Jez Church, resident field coordinator and the subject of Bennett’s long-standing and vehemently denied attraction.

Skirting around to stay on their blind side, Fee edged close enough to be able to hear their conversation.

“- know you’ve said you’re a fan and an old mate of mine can’t use his tickets, so I thought perhaps -”

Bennett didn’t even have to get the full sentence out of his mouth before Jez lit up like one of the improvised chemical explosive devices which the EOD team had spent their day dismantling.

“Of course!” Jez beamed, a twitch between her shoulders suggesting she’d barely held herself in check from throwing her arms around him. “I’m mean, yes, I’d be delighted to go with you.”

“Right, how’s about I’ll just pick you up at seven?”

“Thanks, yes,” Jez replied. Biting her lip she added hesitantly, “its a date then?”

Obviously aware of their location, Bennett leaned in closer, responding quietly with something obviously meant for Jez’s ears only. Given the flush that crept across Jez’s cheeks as she turned back to her work again, Fee easily imagined what had been said. 

Shoulders hunched and face stoic, Fee turned away and headed back toward the lift. Much as she appreciated McKenna’s send her upstairs in time to see Bennettr finally act on his feelings, running face first into her own insecurities today was the last thing she needed. Yes, she was happy for him, and it wasn’t like she wanted him for herself. Seeing him find someone with the potential to be a genuinely good partner should have brought her joy. But today Fee was tired of her own isolation and seeing Will take the first step to overcoming his was just a fierce reminder of how lonely she’d become.

The lift doors opened and Fee trudged her way tiredly back to the office. If they were lucky, she and Mace together would plow through the paperwork quickly enough to still have time for a few hours’ sleep.

~~oOOo~~

The reports were done; vetted by Will and electronically submitted to HQ in Hereford long before they’d been requested. Looking across the desk at an equally tired Mace, Fee was about to open her mouth when her stomach spoke for her. Exhausted and punchy Mace dissolved into helpless giggles. When she could finally catch a breath again, she looked up with a world of sympathy shining in her eyes.

“Come on, Fee. Let’s go grab a bite to eat.”

Easy and relaxed, from his desk on the other side of the room Will quipped, “Ooo, taking her on a date, Mace?”

Before she could stop herself Fiona fired back. “No, damn it, Will. And just because it looks like you might finally get laid sometime this decade doesn’t mean you’ve the right to rub my face in it!”

“I -” Will started to say something but his mouth snapped shut at a look from Mace.

Grabbing Fee by the arm, the brunette summarily hauled her out of the office, not speaking a word as she marched her friend and fellow office down the corridor. Biting her lip, Fee allowed the rough treatment, feeling that she was more than deserving of it given how hurtful she’d been to one of their oldest friends.

Mace finally released her arm as the lift doors slid closed. Leaning back against the opposite wall, she shook her head.

“That was completely uncalled for, Fiona, and you damned well know it.” Her voice was quiet and low, tone holding a hint of steel but not nearly as much censure as Fee had expected. Beneath the rebuke there was something more, though Fee was damned in that she couldn’t pin it down.

“I’m just so bloody tired, Sarah,” she said. The words were offered as both an explanation and a request for forgiveness to one of the only people in the world who knew her well enough to understand.

Smirking at the privileged use of her given name, Mace looked up, eyes catching Fiona’s in a gaze that was more open than any she’d offered since coming back into her old friends’ life. For a moment, Fee was caught breathless at what she saw in the other woman’s eyes; weariness, fear, loneliness. But among them all buried and banked like a fire awaiting someone’s return, hope and longing waged their own battle for acknowledgment.

“I’m just as tired as you are, Fee. Yeah, I’m envious a little at Will’s success, but that doesn’t give me rights to tear him down.”

Biting her lip, Fee looked back down at the mud covered tips of her boots. “How do you bottle it up then? The hurt that comes from watching as everyone else has someone to turn to while you remain alone.”

“I don’t.” For a moment, Fee thought those two words would be the entirety of Mace’s reply. But a moment later, she whispered. “I acknowledge it; I’m tired of being alone too, you know.”

“M’sorry,” Fee mumbled, too tired to think clearly enough for any more of a reply than that.

“You’d do better to offer that apology to Will,” Mace reminded her gently.

A tiny smile flitted across Fee’s face. “Perhaps I’ll take Jez clothes shopping for her date by way of apology.”

“Mmmm,” Mace’s answering slow burn of a smile stopped Fee’s heart for a moment as her eyes traveled down the length of the redheaded captain’s body and back up again. “Only if I get to come along and help you clothes shop for yourself as well. Will told me he hasn’t seen you out of uniform once since you joined TEAR. That tells me you’ve pulled your usual and been avoiding shopping for something that fits you properly. If we’re going to be seen out in public together there’s nothing for it but to take you out myself and see that you’re dressed decently.”

But I - you can’t mean -” caught entirely off her guard, Fee stuttered and stumbled, ducking her head as her old friend moved in close.

“Tell me you haven’t considered the two of us together and I’ll call you a liar in front of the entire squadron.” Head tilted at an odd angle in order to be able to look her in the eye, it felt like Mace’s piercing blue-eyed gaze saw straight through Fee’s defenses. “We’re both tired of being alone, and you know there’s more than just two F’s to the fight or flight response. Care to come get cleaned up with me and indulge a bit in the third?”

“We’ve known each other an awfully long time, Sarah. I don’t want -”

“And neither do I,” Mace responded evenly. “So let’s not ruin anything. Just take it slowly and find out what’s possible.”

Flushing hotly, Fee looked up at Mace. Longing was back in the other woman’s eyes, no longer carefully hidden but rather open and inviting Fee in to fill the void. Hesitant and soft, Mace’s lips feathered lightly across hers, deepening into a searching and tender kiss as soon as Fee reciprocated.

Foreheads leaning together, sun-streaked brown hair mingling with red, Mace’s whispered question was just as quiet as Will’s had been to Jez earlier. “We’ve plenty of good memories of each other, Fiona. Why not see if we can add a few more?”

Finding herself on the receiving end of such a question for the first time in longer than she could remember, it was all Fee could do to lean forward and kiss Mace again. Fingers threaded into her hair as Mace’s lips bowed into a smile, warming the dark corners inside Fiona’s soul. Her eyes slipped closed and she kissed the other woman for a third time, abandoning herself this time to desires held at bay for so very long.

_”If you don’t know if you should stay_  
And you don’t say what’s on your mind  
Baby just, breathe there’s no where else tonight we should be-  
You wanna make a memory?” 


End file.
